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Concept Car of the Week: Mercury El Gato (1970)

Of all the brands that marked American automobile history, Mercury had never been the most popular or the most loved, which ultimately led to its demise in 2011 when Ford chose to terminate the brand. To be fair only a handful of Mercury models are worth remembering: the 1950 Mercury Eight iconic base for custom cars, the 1955 Montclair, the Mustang-based Cougar, the Marauder X-100, the evil Cyclone Spoiler. However one of their coolest creations is fairly unknown mostly due its short concept car life: El Gato, in Spanish translating as "The Cat".

BMW X4 confirmed – one more time

It was always going to be on the cards after the unexpected success of the X6, but the birth of the BMW X4 – a coupé version of the new X3 – has been the subject of endless rumours, almost since the X6 started to sell in unexpected numbers. We reported as far back as April 2010 that BMW were close to deciding an X4 was a no brainer; after all, with a lot of the world ‘downsizing’ their transport, a smaller X6 should be a seller. By this time last year we heard that BMW had already made the decision and we had it on good authority that the X4 was confirmed and signed-off and would be heading to showrooms by 2013.

Designer Tom Matano part of start-up car company in Louisiana

A new auto company backed by Texas billionaire investor T. Boone Pickens and staffed by former Mazda design chief Tom Matano plans to build "environmentally friendly" vehicles in Louisiana. V-Vehicle Co., of San Diego, will bring about 1,400 workers to a Monroe plant that once belonged to General Motors, according to a statement Wednesday from the Louisiana Economic Development Web site.